Indiscipline
by Jeff Excellence
Summary: While waiting for his partner to come back from Fiore, one of Kellyn's routine patrols of Vientown becomes very strange very quickly.


**_Author's notes: _**_Thank you so much for reading! This was a little one-shot that I wrote up today; I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope it shows in the text. This fic is also titled after the King Crimson song of the same name._

* * *

Stopping at Little Tim's had become part of the routine of Kellyn's Vientown patrols. Not that he minded, of course; with Keith off in Fiore for who-knew-how-long, he needed something to lift his spirits, and seeing the farmer's deathly fear of Pokémon fade over time never failed to put a smile on his face. He always took Tim's quests in stride, too; no matter how minor his requests were. Whether it was giving a helping hand with the family Miltank, or getting a rogue and utterly ravenous Bidoof out of the cellar, it was all part of his duty a Ranger — and one of his favourite ones at that.

So to say that it caught him off-guard on a routine visit, Tim announced his suspicions that the creature from the tower was back and watching him, was an understatement.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Tim was still quivering as he looked at Kellyn with a gaunt expression and bags around his eyes; he was as serious as he'd ever been. "You heard me! I swear, it was exactly like how y'all described it!"

"W-well," began Kellyn, taking a moment to consider this, "how did you… er, encounter them? I-if you don't mind me asking, of course."

Tim took a deep breath. "So, I was fast asleep — must've been about two o'clock at night — when I heard something real feisty stirrin' from outside — and I figure, it must be our Miltank. Whatever it was, it didn't wake anyone else up, no matter how long it went on for — so eventually, I grit my teeth, and I say 'it's up to you now, Tim.' I head outside to go check on her, but just at the window, riiight out of the corner of my eye, I spot this shadowy thing out in the woods. I didn't get a chance to get more than a glimpse at it — I think something must've spooked the darn thing — but I swear, that thing looked **dead** at me with those… that big blue eye — and that spiky collar, too; I swear it on my life, it's what y'all saw in the tower, I promise—"

"Woah, woah; it's okay, calm down. I believe you."

Tim's voice had risen to a crescendo now, his speech cut into fragments by panicked breaths, and Kellyn saw it fit to interject. In the face of this, he put on his trademark Ranger face: the firm, yet reassuring, smile that Almia had grown familiar with. "It's going to be fine, Tim, trust me," he said; "as a Ranger, it's my duty to get to the bottom of this. Now, your Miltank; how was she when you found her?"

"Oh, well, um— yeah," he replied, "it was her makin' that racket; mooing and hollering like the end of the world. She's always asleep earlier and up later than any of us, so I dunno what happened; I suspect she got a glimpse of it, though. I tried calming her down, and getting her back to bed, because I didn't wanna wake anyone else up, and I'm getting good with Pokémon, right? I was with her 'till the sun came up, makin' sure she was okay, an' I think she got her wits back about her, anyway. She's been right as rain so far today."

"Hey, good job with that! That's the mark of a real pro; I'm proud of you, Tim!"

"You mean that? Aw, shucks; thank you kindly, Kellyn."

The mood brightened, Kellyn's attention turned to the window near the table. "So, it was at about two in the morning when you saw it peeking at you through… this window, then?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Alright, and is this the first time this has happened?"

"I think so? Joggin' my noggin, I can't say I've seen it before."

"Okay. Right." Making a mental note of all this in his head, Kellyn smiled, nodded, and came to his feet. "Thank you so much for letting me know, Tim; I'll get to the bottom of this as soon as I can, you can count on it!"

"Hey, no problem, friend!" replied Tim, getting up as Kellyn prepared to leave. "Before you go, actually, have some milk on the house — it's the least I can do, pal!"

"Oh, thanks!" said Kellyn, trying to play off the crack in his voice as entirely natural as he took the bottle, put it in his bag, and shook Tim's hand.

"No problem! Thank you so much, on my behalf, Bertha's behalf, and Miltank's too — real, we cannot thank you enough."

Kellyn gave a thumbs up as he stood at the door. "Oh, it's no big deal, honestly. Stay safe, Tim; you hear?"

With that, he stepped outside, closed the door, made sure nobody was looking, and bit his knuckles. That was a bare-faced lie, and he knew it; this was a _huge _deal. As a matter of fact, this may well have been among the biggest deals there'd ever been.

Tim had been so sure of what he'd seen, so unshaken in his convictions, but that changed nothing — the last thing he'd heard on this was that Darkrai was in the Union's custody, waiting to find the perfect trainer. Perhaps the situation wasn't as drastic as he was making it out to be; after all, they had done such a good job guarding the Luminous Crystal after the Dim Sun incident, as well as helping him and Keith take down Kincaid and the Debonair crew. By no means were they bad, or evil, by any stretch of the imagination _— _he just couldn't help but worry about the risk of having them so close to a civilian population. So he couldn't help but ask: why had the Union agreed to this?

Answering that question was his second priority. His first was making sure everyone was safe — the people of Vientown, the Pokémon of Vien Forest, and Darkrai, too.

He took a deep breath, rubbed his hands together, and once he was sure he was ready, he ran to Vientown's Ranger Base as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Oh! Hey, Kellyn," said Barlow with a smile, "need us for anything?"

"Yes — I'm gonna need your help quarantining the forest. Let the rest of the gang know they're needed — you're not gonna believe this."

* * *

Once the rest of the Vientown rangers had been recalled, Kellyn went over everything Little Tim had told him. As he spoke, he was worried that his prediction would turn out to be true — as much as he believed it, it did sound pretty far-fetched. He couldn't bring himself to focus on any of his colleagues' reactions before he finished, expecting a chorus of questioning stares.

"So, in summary," he concluded, "I'm led to believe this is a very serious situation. There's a real chance that they're lurking around in the forest. For the sake of everyone — them included — I think it's of the utmost importance that we evacuate the forest and quarantine it until the situation is resolved, for fear of someone getting hurt."

Without missing a beat, Crawford nodded. "Sounds reasonable. Let's get on it."

Kellyn blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Of course!" Luana interjected, completely unfazed. "You said it yourself, this is a serious situation, and we can't just not look into this. Can we, Barlow?"

Barlow nodded, biting his lip as his entire face creased. Never before had he exhaled so forcefully through his nose.

"Barlow, why are you _laughing _?" remarked Crawford, unamused. "This is a serious situation, Barlow. People might get hurt, Barlow."

Even with one of his massive hands covering his mouth, there was no hiding how expressive Barlow's face was. His eyes began to water as he tried desperately not to snort through his nose.

"This is so unprofessional of you, Barlow," he continued, completely straight-faced. "I think it'd be best if you took a step away, chief. Don't you?"

Elaine couldn't help but tut as she put a hand on the shoulder of this mountain of a man, reduced to tears as he tried desperately to swallow a laugh as he was guided to the back of the base. "That's not on, boss. This is an _extremely _serious situation."

Kellyn only watched this debacle unfold with his mouth hanging open, no words on hand to articulate his emotions. He only turned to Crawford and gestured in a vague, and deeply confused, manner.

"Now's not the time to stand and gawk, you know; there's work to be done. Come on, let's go get this sorted."

"W— um. Shouldn't we— y'know— I feel like we really should have Barlow along with us, this is a whole thing—"

"No, no, Kellyn; he's clearly not in the right frame of mind for this," Crawford began, and just as Kellyn thought he'd managed a whole conversation without a terrible joke, his face screwed up. "All he had to do was not laugh, you know. The _bar _really was that… _low. _"

"Craw_ ford! _" came a groan from everyone except Barlow, who was still trying desperately not to laugh; and with that, they all headed outside.

Kellyn watched on with an utterly dumbfounded expression, before following the party sans Barlow outside.

Turning to the Starly that now perched on his shoulder, Kellyn had one pressing question: "What do you make of this?"

The Flying-type tilted his head to the side and cooed.

Kellyn nodded. He was still utterly bewildered, but he felt as though he had a greater sense of understanding now. "Coo-co-roo indeed."

* * *

With the forest evacuated and secured, Kellyn stepped inside.

Truth be told, he had absolutely no idea what to make of any of this. What had started out as a routine patrol of the tiny town had now become a mission to track down and capture one legendary Pokémon that had supposedly been relocated out of the region by the Union, all while in a forest quarantined and secured by a handful of Area Rangers who were extremely content with this — except for their leader, who had been reduced to hysterics by the situation, for whatever reason.

This was going to make for one unbelievable story when Keith got back.

Nevertheless, his duty as a Ranger was to protect people and Pokémon, regardless of any other circumstances. The only thing for him to do was to get the quest done — though, now that he came to think of it, this seemed a lot more befitting of mission status. It was no doubt going to be difficult, and as he walked through the forest with his partner at the ready, he kept his eye out at all times. Not a moment passed with his head still, nor with his eyes unpeeled, as he advanced through the path.

His ears were at the ready at all times. His Styler was out and ready to capture. There was no way he was going to miss a thing.

"BOO!"

Kellyn screeched as his boyfriend pounced on him from behind a tree, wrapping his arms around him.

"Surprise!"

"Wh— Keith?! Don't scare me like that, you'll give me a heart attack!" said Kellyn between lung-busting pants. Once he had his breath back, he lit up into a smile, hoisting Keith's legs up around him. "What are you doing back?"

"Well, actually, it's funny you should mention that — I got a call from the Union, telling me to come back; they said there's an important matter. Concerning you, of all things."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they said there was something you needed to come and see," replied Keith as he let go of Kellyn, standing back on solid ground. "Follow me."

"I—" began Kellyn, before something clicked in his brain. "…Did you happen to get Barlow and friends in on this?"

Keith looked at Kellyn with the face of a man who had never been guiltier of anything in his life — no small order, knowing Keith. "Who let it slip? Was it Barlow? I knew I shouldn't have trusted him with a secret."

"No— well, sort of, actually. But no, I just thought everyone had gone insane. Speaking of, the Union; what did they tell you?"

Keith stopped walking, shooting his arm out like a proud magician at the end of a masterful trick. Kellyn stopped, too, his eyes following the arm all the way to his outstretched hand, which led his gaze directly to one Darkrai, who stared right back at him expectantly.

"W-wait, hold on, wh—"

"My assignment in Fiore ended yesterday, actually — I was already planning on surprising you, but I got a call from the good professor on the way. Apparently, as much as they tried, the Union couldn't find a suitable person to take them in. As a matter of fact, I have been told that they want to partner up with you. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity, honestly; figured I'd kill two birds with one stone, so I said that I'd hand them over to you myself. That way, you get twice the surprise, y'know?"

"I— you—" began Kellyn, his entire face lit up in a distinct mix of uncertainty and delight. "Wh— you got Little Tim on this, too?"

Keith shrugged. "Kinda? He doesn't know I'm here — at least, I hope not; I just figured it'd be fun to give him a glimpse of Darkrai and give him a fright, y'know? Then I thought that he'd probably let you know about it, so…"

Kellyn was still trying to wrap his head around this as he turned to Darkrai. "Is this true?"

They nodded.

"All of it?"

They nodded again. After a brief pause, Kellyn was certain they were grinning like an idiot, and that they were very pleased with their role in all this.

Even so, it took him a hot minute to process this. The only thing he could do was laugh, impressed, and wrap his arms around Keith in the tightest hug he'd ever given. "Keith, you wonderful idiot, I love you so much."

After planting a peck on his cheek, Keith smirked. "I know, and I love you too. Now, stop blushing, you absolute nerd; they're not going to catch themselves."

"O-oh, right; of course."

Taking a deep breath, Kellyn drew his Styler and faced Darkrai for the third time in his life — first as foes, then as friends, and now partners.


End file.
